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First-time Buyers

Average London house price tops £500,000

Adam Williams
Written By:
Adam Williams
Posted:
Updated:
22/05/2014

The average London property price has passed the

Figures from estate agency chain Haart found prices in the capital city reached £501,056 in April. This figure was up 26.1% year-on-year, equivalent to a rise of £103,761.

This growth was down to lack of housing stock and an ever increasing number of buyers hitting the market, the report said. New buyer registrations have jumped 10.8% in the past 12 months while property supply has fallen by 1.7%.

First-time buyer registrations rose even faster, growing by 22.4% in the last year.

The average UK property price has risen 9.4% annually to reach £199,679, although these figures remain skewed by the London market.

Paul Smith, CEO of Haart, said: “London homeowners will be forgiven for being astonished that they have ‘earned’ an average £100,000 in equity over the last 12 months.

“However with more properties being pushed into the £500,000 price range more buyers will be bumped up into the 3% stamp duty tax band – the unfairness of this disproportionately South East focused tax must be addressed before the next election.

“The way to put the brakes on price growth is to increase supply, but in London we have only seen new property instructions rise 0.2% annually and new properties for sale across the UK as a whole are down 1.7%. Homeowners can help break this cycle by putting their property up for sale before finding somewhere themselves thus freeing up supply.”